My mom and one of my favorite aunts have been the most POSITIVE female role models I know. Mom was widowed when she was only 30 years old and 2 kids to raise. She wasn't perfect, but she did her best.... We never knew hunger or need and were raised in a secure middle class suburban life.... She let us go when we needed to, got me on the pill so I'd never come home pregnant and taught us both self-respect and values.... She did NOT instill that atrocious sense of entitlement we see too much of these days, but did encourage a sense of accomplishment by... ACCOMPLISHMENTS! I am most proud of her because she rose above the understated racism of her parents who looked down everyone who was not "waspy" enough. Mom followed her heart and married a Mexican man despite strong objections from her family... They refused to have anything to do with her until I came along... To give maternal grandparents their due, my brother and I were NEVER made to feel less than wanted because we were bi-racial so in the end, perhaps they transcended their own blindness as well.

My Mom further demonstrated her transcendence years later when I was old enough to babysit. One couple who lived a few blocks away from us were considered rather exotic in our homogenous neighborhood because mom was white and dad was black. No one would babysit their kids until Mom sent me to do so. Interacting with this family was my first extended contact with African Americans -- we were taught to look beyond skin color and deeper to character. Legacy of my Mom.

Another invaluable lesson she taught me was by virtue of her second marriage and quick divorce after he beat her. Never to tolerate such abuse. Good on you, Mom! Good on you.

My aunt taught me about kindness, compassion and quiet strength in the face of adversity... A very good friend of mine who died of pancreatic cancer also faced her death with the same kindness and compassion and strength. One of the reasons I became friends with her was because something about her reminded me of my aunt, although physically they were very different.

2 best friends of mine are extremely inspiring in other ways. One is outspoken, passionate and struggled with addiction for many years. She has been free for 8 years after a long haul... She's the friend I can talk about ANYTHING! My other good friend reminds me somewhat of my mom because she's a single mother via divorce; parenting is her focus. Her kids don't lack for anything and she's established a firm foundation of love, discipline and guidance. Her kids know that mom has their back no matter what.

I have public role models as well, but the ones who had the most impact are personal.

Globally we still have much to accomplish. Taken from the August 23, 2009 New York Times Magazine Sunday edition: The Women's Crusade, by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn

"100 million women and girls are missing around the world because of gender discrimination.

The oppression of women worldwide is the human rights cause of our time. And their liberation could help solve many of the world's problems from poverty to child morality to terrorism.

"Women hold up half the sky", in the words of a Chinese saying, yet that's mostly an aspiration: in a large slice of the world girls are uneducated and women marginalized, and it's not an accident that those same countries are disproportionately mired in poverty and riven by fundamentalism and chaos. There's a growing recognition among everyone from the World Bank to the U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff of aid organizations like CARE that focusing on women and girls is the most effective way to fight global poverty and extremism. That's why foreign aid is increasingly directed to women. The world is awakening to a powerful truth: Women and girls aren't the problem; they're the solution".

Nations that marginalize women on the basis of their gender don't grant human rights to the rest of their populations either.

The U.S. and the rest of the West has no right to be smug in that regard. I think women in this society have been moved from one form of oppression to another form. Equality is still very much an illusion here. The best they can hope for is attaining an "equality" by doing what's expected of them in a male paradigm, or, finding "success" within a system that was forged in patriarchy. In other words, the masculine qualities are praised, and the feminine is put down -- at least in how we define success and value in this society. We're still a long way from really re-inventing our society, where feminine energy has as much to do with the structure of the paradigm as the masculine side does. For example, we ohh and ahhh over women CEOs making loads of money -- and say, "see, world... see how much better we treat our women? But never stop to question if our world was one in which women had as much to do with the invention of the paradigm as men have, being a CEO and making loads of money might not matter nearly as much as it does.

So, sexism here might be more subtle, but no less damaging or arresting to the progress of Humanity.

Like AS, my mom has been the most powerful female role model in my life. My dad was in the Navy so every other duty station meant sea duty for him. In a three year period, he could be gone for 1/2 that time and sometimes more due to different tours. When he was out to sea, my mom was the only parent for three kids. As the oldest, I helped a lot and tried to relieve as much of the stress for her as I could, but she was still the only parent. She had her flaws, but she did the best she could and for as young as she was (she had the three of us between the age of 18 and 23), she did good. When we were kids, she only took jobs that allowed her to come in after she made sure we got on the school bus and let her go home in time to be there when the bus dropped us off. She taught me how to be strong, be independent. But also taught me that being those things didn't mean that you can't still rely on a husband, take care of him, kids, and the home.

"No matter how dark the moment, love and hope are always possible." George Chakiris

“For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who don't believe, no proof is possible.” Stuart Chase

Nations that marginalize women on the basis of their gender don't grant human rights to the rest of their populations either.

The U.S. and the rest of the West has no right to be smug in that regard. I think women in this society have been moved from one form of oppression to another form. Equality is still very much an illusion here. The best they can hope for is attaining an "equality" by doing what's expected of them in a male paradigm, or, finding "success" within a system that was forged in patriarchy. In other words, the masculine qualities are praised, and the feminine is put down -- at least in how we define success and value in this society. We're still a long way from really re-inventing our society, where feminine energy has as much to do with the structure of the paradigm as the masculine side does. For example, we ohh and ahhh over women CEOs making loads of money -- and say, "see, world... see how much better we treat our women? But never stop to question if our world was one in which women had as much to do with the invention of the paradigm as men have, being a CEO and making loads of money might not matter nearly as much as it does.

So, sexism here might be more subtle, but no less damaging or arresting to the progress of Humanity.

It's still a patriarchal world, however the awareness is greater now than 100 years ago. Less than 100 years ago women in this country could not vote. I'd like to thank all the women around the world that have made it possible for women to vote.